HUMBOLDT — A Humboldt historic tourism success story is going province wide.
Jennifer Fitzpatrick, the Humboldt’s cultural services director, will be presenting the story of the Humboldt Water Tower as part of the Heritage Conservation Branch’s winter webinar series. The series aims to showcase several Saskatchewan projects that demonstrate the rewards of conserving and engaging with historic places and their stories.
“We were really honoured to be asked to present,” Fitzpatrick said. “There are fantastic spaces throughout the province of people demonstrating heritage tourism, but I think the water tower is really unique.”
The tower operated from 1915 to 1977, providing water and water pressure to the community.
“Humboldt had a real challenging time securing a water source,” Fitzpatrick said. “You look at the history and a lot of times they went back between Burton Lake and Stoney [now Humboldt] Lake. For them to build a tower and really secure that [water] was important.”
Consisting of an inner steel tank, 20 feet in diameter and 80 feet high, surrounded by a timber housing, the Humboldt Water Tower was one of eleven similar structures in Saskatchewan. There are only four still standing. Humboldt’s is the only one that’s open to the public, with public tours available every summer.
Fitzpatrick said her focus in the webinar will be on the volunteers who rehabilitated the tower.
“I just want to celebrate the volunteers who did manage to conserve the tower and their vision to create a tourism site for the community that's really unique in Saskatchewan.”
The Humboldt Water Tower Committee has provided photos and information about the work they did for the presentation. Fitzpatrick will show some of those photos and discuss some of the challenges that were faced.
There are 11 webinars in the series, which will be presented on Tuesday, March 1, Thursday, March 3, Tuesday, March 8 and Thursday, March 10. Other presentations include the rehabilitation work done at the Melfort Historic Post Office and the use of Ground Penetrating Radar for cemeteries.
The webinars are free, but those attending must pre-register before Wednesday, Feb. 23.
The Humboldt presentation will be on Tuesday, March 1.
Fitzpatrick said the story of the Humboldt Water Tower is inspiring.
“There are challenges with historic buildings across the province and across the country,” she said. “[It’s about] just showing people what really can be done with the drive and passion of local volunteers.”
